CTI integrations (Call Telephony Interchange) are a common add-on for a Service Cloud implementation, especially with businesses that have call recording requirements or want to get more analytics from their call centers.

One addition to the list of Salesforce CTI providers is Aircall, providing one of the fastest and most user-friendly setups in this space.

Aircall has some great customer success stories and big players using the app, including Uber, Spotahome, and Mention! Those include some great statistics on improving agent availability, CSAT scores, and more.

Features

Within your Lightning App, Console, or even in the Classic view, Aircall appears as a widget on the side for users in Salesforce.

From within Salesforce, it acts as a virtual phone allowing you to receive or send calls as you work and automatically log all call information in Salesforce.

The widget itself offers several features, such as its own internal contact base, call feed and collaboration features like call assignment, forwarding, tagging, and commenting between Aircall team members (not exclusive to Salesforce).

The Aircall integration also adds Click-to-Dial icons to any phone field, desktop notifications (with audio alerts), and a re-sizable component. However, the screen-pop is the most impressive feature this app adds to Salesforce: For every inbound call a user receives, Aircall takes him/her to the related contact in Salesforce.

On Aircall, you’re able to create numbers in 40+ countries instantly, assign them to distinct teams, and set an extension per user. Your calls are routed to an IVR (Interactive Voice Response), or cascaded directly to delegated numbers. Aircall integrates with a range of other CRM systems, although it can also be used as a standalone solution through the desktop or smartphone apps it also provides.

When integrating with Salesforce, you have the option to automatically create Contacts or Leads for any phone call made or received from/to a non-existing contact in Salesforce, or simply disable this feature. Calls are logged as activities in Salesforce Accounts, Contacts, Leads, Opportunities or Cases and all call information is stored on Salesforce standard fields. Planned support for Aircall custom fields is in the pipeline; however, the bulk of information is already pulled through into dedicated fields and the comments area.

Other features include support for custom messaging, queuing configuration, and call routing rules. You’re able to construct the call center in a way that allows redirections to external numbers if all agents are unavailable or outside or working hours, and add voice prompts so that users can direct themselves to specific departments.

Another benefit is that from within the separate Aircall platform, you’re able to see pre-built analytical information and your contact center’s live data (no setup needed).

These statistics can also be emailed to you on a regular basis if, for example, you want a weekly report of key information.

Finally, the API for Aircall is completely open, so if you do want to integrate with it from a bespoke system, developers have that option.

For further information or to dive deeper into these, check out this link.

Impact

Across all CTI integrations, the added benefits include increase in customer satisfaction, agent performance, first time connecting, and even decreasing call queuing times. So for a service team, it’s worth investing in for businesses with focusing on improving in this area.

Specific to Aircall, the simplicity to configure and use stick out (potentially accelerating user adoption and change management). One of the biggest game changers is also the time it takes to implement the CTI platform. For businesses that have critical requirements to deliver on ASAP, Aircall shines in this aspect.

For companies that have multiple different CRM systems and want to have a call centre tool across them all, Aircall is also the solution to bridging systems and even centralising call data. This is particularly useful for companies that want to get unified statistics on their agents’ performance and compare teams that might log in to different systems.

One of the side effects to being so accessible to multiple systems, though, is that it means the app is not native to Salesforce. That will limit some of what you can do inside the platform. That said, the developers are actively improving the app in this area and the core information syncs with Salesforce fluidly.

Setup

I was able to install and configure the app in about 10 minutes, making it almost instantaneous! But it’s still recommended to seek Aircall’s advice, or familiarize on CTI best practices regarding your specific business (such as the best call routing decisions, or queuing settings, etc.). There are plenty of supporting resources available on this provided by Aircall and a great support team to assist with any issues.

It’s also advised to have a business grade internet connection and there are recommendations for this as well.

There are two parts to the setup. The first is configuring the Aircall platform and the second is installing the integration into Salesforce.

The Aircall platform allows you to create t numbers across the globe, add team members, setup different team and call departments, and define their routing preferences. You can also set up business hours, queuing options, and note which users are supervisors.

You also can choose whether calls are recorded or not. It’s also strongly advised to review your country’s policy on phone recording, as this setting is enabled by default.

Options can also be setup for individual users from the phone device in Salesforce or from one of the Aircall applications. This includes availability, personal details, and importing contact information to the Aircall database.

From the Salesforce setup, a couple of points to note.

You have the option to log calls in specific ways, and automatically create Leads or Contacts if the number is not yet stored in Salesforce. Aircall has proactively fought against number formatting issues Salesforce CTI users have with great success. That being said, the contact/lead creation setup should be evaluated carefully, particularly against call volumes before automating.

If you don’t appear to have calls automatically logging, that’s a clear sign that you may have bypassed the step of making the type field visible to users.

If this is the case, the easiest option is to delete the connected integration to Salesforce and add it back in.

Users that you wish to enable access to the phone solution will also need to be added to the Aircall Call Center in Salesforce.

Finally, if you do choose to automatically create Contacts or Leads via Aircall, you may wish to further differentiate the data using workflow rules. This can easily be done by including naming convention applied into the criteria of rule.

Pricing

For integration to Salesforce, you’ll be required to purchase the Enterprise edition of Aircall, with annual and monthly subscriptions at:

50 USD per month (annually)

or 70 USD per month (monthly)

If you don’t want the integration into Salesforce, or perhaps want to make Aircall exclusive to employees that aren’t Salesforce users, there’s a cheaper Premier plan, equating to roughly 20 USD cheaper (per user, per month).

However, for users of Salesforce, I’d highly recommend the Enterprise edition for the optimal user experience and for centralising data.

This price is competitive in comparison to other CTI products on the market, and justifiable given how rapid it can be installed, its simplicity, and the ability to integrate with other CRM systems.

Non-for-profit discounts are also available. TBC.

For more information on pricing and what’s included in the different packages, you can follow this link.

Conclusion

Rapid professional call centre setup, 20-minute install!

Aircall is a great new addition to the CTI space and the 7-day trial (with free minutes available) is worth trying in sandbox or developer environment if you’re interested in the product. The trial does require an email address with a workplace domain, so you won’t be able to spam free disposable emails to play around with this gem.